What A Life
by Elemental-Knowledge
Summary: A second chance to do good by your life... Who wouldn't take it? Especially if you previous chance was unbearable, a second chance is what every person wants. This second chance could turn out just as gruesome as your first chance, but there's that glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, you can make something of yourself. (Gamer Fic) (1st chapter suicide warning)
1. What a Life

**I wanna start off by saying I was inspired to do this after reading some 'Gamer' stories, and the in-progress fanfic called 'Foreign Land' by YeOldDoorHinge. Check it out. It's only a couple chapters, but it's very good.**

 **Also, it's going to start very confusing, but all will be explained. Have some patience, and a little love.**

 **This starts off quite dark.**

 **()-()-()**

My life was ending in the worst possible way. I had maybe a month left in me, at most. My doctor, wonderful woman, said she could make my last month as painless as possible, but...

I wasn't going to see if I could make it. The intense, constant pain in my chest... There simply wasn't another option for me. Even if, by some miracle, I survived this... this thing, I would relapse. Maybe not immediately, fuck, maybe I would get a good few years in before it happened. But I would surely have to go through treatment again. My heart...

I don't want to hurt anymore. It's too much. Sure, there was a lot I could do in a month, but...

I can't take any joy from anything. My heart is practically being strangled from the inside. That feeling of your own body killing you... I would kill for this pain to go away.

And that's what I'm doing, right now. One of the hospital's nurses, a somewhat dim man, left the keys to my medicine cabinet behind when he just went to the washroom. I knew I had to act quickly; the second I got unhooked my heart monitor, the entire floor would bolt to my room. I also had to ignore the intense drowsy feeling my pain medication gave me, or I would hit the floor.

I finally had the chance to end this. Yes, I'm going to kill for the pain to go away.

I carefully removed my IV needle, not that the damage it would cause mattered, and carelessly removed all of the sensors attached to me. I didn't know what half of them were for.

The very second my sensors were torn from me, I bolted to my scrawny legs. Standing up alone was the most exercise they've had in several days, I was sure I'd fall over my head.

I pumped my incredibly weak legs with all my might, stumbling towards the keys and medicine cabinet. I grabbed the keys, and in a stroke of luck, was able to get the correct one in the hole to the cabinet. I heard scrambling outside my door. The nurse also closed the door, locking it as a result. I truly was grateful. I threw things that were in my way to the side until I found what I was looking for. Some form of painkiller in a syringe... I couldn't remember what it was called. I didn't care what it was called.

With the little force I could muster, I jabbed the syringe into my chest, and pumped the medicine into me.

"Heh... I win, cancer," Were my last words. And I did truly win.

()-()-()

Damn, did someone just shove the sun in my eyes? I tried to hold out my arm in front of my eyes, but that did little to stop the searing light.

Before my eyes could adjust to the blinding light, a voice made itself known. "Well, aren't you an odd one? Says here that you killed yourself? Well, I guess it's too be expected, what with the cancer and all," the voice said. It sounded fairly feminine.

I blinked my eyes open, finally adjusted to the light. In front of me was... A screen. With a happy emoji just plastered onto it in bright yellow. I couldn't help but be annoyed.

"Are you kidding? You are what greets people after they die? Not a magical angel, holy saint, or the devil, but a computer screen?" I was tempted to just hit the damn thing. I freed myself from such an intense pain, just for a smiley face of bullshit?

The face on the screen turned into a pouty emoji. "Hey kid, I'm trying hard to keep up with technology!"

Good fuck. It had a sense of humor. Looks like I was greeted by Satan afterall.

The face turned to an absolutely neutral emoji. "Kid, listen to me. You have a choice right now. For some reason, you still wanted to live when you overdosed. You wanted to live while you grabbed the morphine. You didn't want to kill yourself, but you did it anyways. That's quite rare, infact, for the dead to have a constant want to live. And when it happens, they get a choice." The emoji paused. I couldn't take it seriously.

"You're an emoji. If anything, I'm tripping off my ass right now," I deadpanned.

The emoji sighed. "Fine kid, maybe if I take a more 'human' form?" It didn't wait for a response, rather the screen just unceremoniously disappeared, leaving behind a very plain looking woman. Her skin was a light brown, her eyes were brown, her hair was black and cut to a bob, and looked entirely average. Her clothing was also average; a long-sleeve shirt, coloured a murky green, and jeans. In her hand was a tablet-looking device with my picture on it, and what I can only assume as my information.

The woman snapped her fingers, and two cheap looking chairs appeared. When the woman say down, she motioned for me to sit as well. I did so, after realizing I was standing the whole time.

"I suppose now that you can take me seriously, you'll let me continue?" I nodded quickly. "Goody. Kid, you have a choice because of how you died. You can either go on with death, be reincarnated or go to heaven or whatever, or you can be reborn into a false world," The woman said plainly, as if discussing a business deal.

I considered my options. Go on with being dead, like I intended, or be reborn in someone's imaginary world? I had to say, the possibility of going to hell for killing myself wasn't exactly pleasing... Screw it, she was right; I wanted to live.

Letting out a deep sigh, I replied. "I want to live. I don't care about what world, so long as I can do some good with my life."

The woman smiled. "Goody! Well, there are some things that I have to apply to you. First off, you will be reborn as a newborn baby. Secondly, you will be reborn into a fictional world you know nearly nothing about..." She paused for a second after scrolling through her tablet. "Ahh, here we go. You said you wanted to do good? Well, here's your chance. I'm putting you in the fantasy known as RWBY. What do you know of it?"

I paused. I was pretty sure people in that show had some sort of superpowers or some shit like that.

"Umm, don't the rules of physics still apply? From what I know, people there have superpowers, and that's simply not possible," I responded. This earned a chuckle from the woman.

"Ha, that's cute. You think all universes work on the same laws as yours. Absolutely adorable. But seriously, let's continue." Thanks for the half-assed explanation. "So the last thing is what makes you special, also known as a semblance. In your world, you were extremely good at playing video games, correct?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I don't see how that's relevant," I replied. Exactly what was a semblance, and why does video games affect that?

She gave a short laugh. "Oh I'm going to enjoy watching you progress in this world. If you couldn't tell by now, I'm an extremely influential being. I can alter your appearance, change your gender, I could even change your personality when you're reborn. It's no stretch for me to give you a very particular power as your semblance. It will turn your life into an RPG, in a sense. You okay with that?"

Wait. What.

Not even waiting for a reply, the woman typed on her tablet, and pressed a large green button that I could only assume was a 'confirm' button.

"Oh, and kid, you can call me Kami," She said before everything started to blur. Wait...

Did she call herself God?

()-()-()

I had the mind of a seventeen year-old boy, fully functioning and mature. However, Kami wasn't kidding when she said I would be reborn into a newborn.

My memory retention of my first year of my reincarnation was very weak. While I thought like a teenager, my physical brain was still weak, and I could only grasp tiny little snippets.

My earliest memory was the day my biological parents took me home from the hospital. They had named me Barum. Barum Thorne.

I was... actually very fond of my new family. I mean, I loved my old family and all, but they didn't exist in this universe, and I suppose part of my fondness for my new family was my newborn brain forcing the bonding thoughts into my mind.

My mother's name is Gravelien. She was a very caring mother, and dare I say more affectionate than my previous mom. There's my dad as well, named Steele. Everytime I think of him, I can't help but be reminded of my older brother of my previous life. Strong, smart, and a military man. He serves the Vale military as a general.

And then there's my twin brother, Carbon. With nearly an infinite amount of energy, he was always causing trouble, even when we were newborns.

I, however, was the exact opposite. I still retained my personality from my previous life, and was very cut-and-dry.

My entire family was what is known as 'faunus', meaning we have animalistic appendages, and small personality traits from our animal cousins. To be specific, we were wolf faunus, with the exception of my dad, who was a wolverine faunus. The genetics between faunus types are passed down by the mother, apparently

When I started to really remember things is when I was four. My first cohesive-full memory was actually my first day of school.

()-()-()

"MommyPleaseDon'tMakeMeGoToSchoolItSmellsLikeOldFeet!" Carbon whined at supersonic speed. In contrast to my inherent maturity, Carbon was highly childish. Or, the more likely explanation is that he's still mentally a child, and I didn't like small children in my previous life.

But, my brain is still that of a child. So I blew a raspberry at him. And tugged at his wolf ears. "You can't make go alone Carbon! It's not fair!"

Yep. Real mature of me. Inhibitions are through the window. Lovely.

And then our mom decided to carry us out the door. Literally one in each arm. "Boys, I promise your dad will be there to pick you up. Now, can we behave?" She asked us. Our only response to her was a mumbled yes. We loved her, no doubt, but she could be scary when she wanted to be.

After a short car-ride, we arrived at the school. Everyone introduced themselves and got to know each other. The typical kindergarten activities followed.

()-()-()

It wasn't long into my life I've outed myself as an outsider. I was twelve by then, and my brain had developed enough to contain my previous life's mind. I had always been a star student due to my innate maturity and personality, but I never had enough space for my academic memories, meaning formulas, equations, and accumulated intellect of my past life.

It happened very suddenly, in the middle of a history lesson about Hunters, the protectors of this world. Having the intellect of my previous life piled onto my already accumulated intellect is actually not noticeable until it's pointed out to you. I was answering all of the teacher's questions, as usual, but with absolute detail, down to specific facts of famed hunter families.

I was already the quiet nerd, which was just fine, but after that class, I was the quiet weirdo nerd. That got old fast, as the bullies that would usually leave me alone would now pick on me. The anti-faunus racists were just given ammunition. My elementary school's grapevine turned me into a hyper-genius with a god-complex. Thankfully, I only had this one last year left before I could attend a combat school.

Being a Huntsman was my number one goal in this life. I guess after ending my past life, I wanted to give people a better chance of living. Odd, I know, but it seemed Kami put me on Remnant for good reason.

My added intellect was well timed, as the school decided to give a standardized test. I guess that's just an multi-universal thing. The two-hour long test covered what we needed to have learned by then. I was done in forty minutes, and the result was a perfect score.

()-()-()

Signal Academy of Patch, the combat school for those wishing to become hunters. Ever since we heard about Hunters, Carbon and I wanted to become them. Hell, we've been training ever since mom let us, me with a katana, and Carbon with a zweihander.

My dad was technically a Hunter, as you need a Hunter's license for any of the higher-ranking military positions. He would always tell us about fighting off monsters called Grimm. He would always tell me how his non-contact semblance would allow for ridiculous attacks from the inside of an Ursa, or leaving grenades in Nevermore after phasing through them.

Whenever he talked about his semblance, I asked him what mine might be. I already knew it was something that would turn me into an RPG character, but it's always nice to know what other people think of you.

Before I headed to the exams, I made sure I was at least presentable. My ear-length light brown hair and wolf ears were combed neatly and my vibrant, green eyes scrutinized the rest of me. My battle wear consisted of baggy pants that were dyed a mix of green and brown, and a moss-green robe wound around me in such a fashion that it covered my right arm down to the middle of my forearm, and left my left arm bare from the shoulder down. I resembled an armorless samurai, much to my satisfaction. A quick slap of my slightly round face was enough to get me pumped up.

The entrance exams for Signal were very... odd. We were each given the choice of a dulled base weapon, sword, mace, scythe, what have you, and then we were paired up with one random person. We had to fight against said person, but it wasn't the winner of each fight that went on, it was up to the discretion of the headmaster to accept the one-hundred best fighters, meaning both of a pair could be accepted, or neither of a pair.

My chosen weapon was a katana, and my opponent was a girl named Yang, an admittedly cute girl with massive amounts of blonde hair, . Her weapon was fairly odd; a pair of heavy-looking gauntlets.

"Future Huntsmen and Huntresses!" The headmaster greeted loudly, and with a boisterous smile. He was a rather large man, standing easily at six and a half feet tall, equipped with a monstrous claymore strapped to his back. "Today, you are tested to see which of you advance a step further in your hunting education, and which of you will not. You all know the rules; no attempt of killing, first one out of the ring loses, and any blows that do not upset the first rule are legal. Good luck, children, now fight!" The headmaster yelled, and smashed a gong with a hammer, signaling the fights.

My opponent, Yang, rushed at me fiercely. She started with a left hook, which I leaned back from. As I leaned back, Yang attempted a downwards slam with her right elbow, but I rolled out of the way and got up quickly.

"You're pretty good, Yang! Keeping me on my toes!" I near-yell to her.

Yang smirked. "You're not too bad yourself, Barum. Shame I'm gonna win!"

We both grinned, and I charged her with a horizontal slash, which she outright blocked with her right gauntlet. I followed through with a kick to her right hip, forcing her to relieve some of the pressure on my blade. I forced my blade through her already weakened defense, allowing me to finish the swing, but Yang ducked backwards, making my sword miss entirely. Yang capitalized on this, and delivered a fist full of metal to my face, forcing me to fall. Ignoring the pain, I stood up again, and charged Yang yet again, this time starting with a vertical slash. Knowing, it wasn't going to connect, I whipped the blade around my body, and swung a heavy horizontal slash that surprisingly hit Yang right below her ribs. I connected several more blows, until Yang read one of my moves, and started a combo that resulted in certainly several bruises, but also my ring-out. That's when I realized something.

There was a blue window in the corner of my vision. On it read:

 **Quest "Hunter material" completed!**

 **GUI unlocked!**

 **HUD unlocked!**

 **Gamer's Mind skill unlocked!**

 **Gamer's Body skill unlocked!**

 **Gamer's Reality skill unlocked**

 **Sword skill unlocked!**

 **Sword skill increased to LV 10!**

 **Physical Endurance skill unlocked!**

 **Physical Endurance skill increased to LV 8!**

 **Samurai skill unlocked!**

 **Samurai skill increased to LV 2!**

 **Up-to-Crescent skill added!**

 **Up-to-Crescent skill increased to LV 2!**

 **Title Added: Gamer (Auto equip!)**

 **Title Added: Samurai**

 **Title Added: Signal Student**

Oh. Well, I guess fourteen years of waiting for this to appear, and it's a blue notification window. Seems a bit anticlimactic to me, but hey, what are you gonna do?. I focused on the screen, this action seemed to pause the world, and got it to reveal the information it was sending me. And it was a ton of information blasted into my face.

 **Name: Barum Thorne**

 **Title: Gamer**

 **(Grants Nothing)**

 **HP: 120/120**

 **MP: 60/60**

 **AP:0/0 (Aura Locked)**

 **Gamer's Mind: Passive, Maxed**

 **You have the mindset of a gamer, even in reality! +100% Mental Affliction RES.**

 **Gamer's Body: Passive, Maxed**

 **You have the body of an RPG character! +HP(Health Points) Bar, +MP(Mana Points) Bar, +AP(Aura Points) Bar, Sleep optional, Food/Drink optional**

 **Gamer's Reality: Passive, Maxed**

 **Pick up loot, accept quests, communicate with Kami, and progress in factions!**

 **Sword: Passive, LV 10**

 **+10% DMG with SWORD weapons. (+1% DMG per LV)**

 **Physical Endurance: Passive, LV 8**

 **+4% RES Physical DMG (+0.5% RES per level)**

 **Samurai: Passive, LV 2**

 **+3% SPD When equipped with a KATANA weapon, +2% DMG with KATANA weapons (+1.5 SPD per LV, +1% DMG per LV)**

 **Up-to-Crescent: Aggressive, LV 2**

 **Start with a vertical strike, then combo into circling horizontal strikes!**

 **Max combo: 7 hits**

 **+5% DMG per strike (+2.5% DMG per LV)**

 **Cost: 6 MP per strike**

 **Title: Gamer**

 **Grants Nothing**

 **Title: Samurai**

 **+30% SPD, -15% Physical RES, +20% END**

 **Title: Signal Student**

 **+25% Academic Learning SPD, +15% Dust/Aura RES**

' _How do I go about changing my title? Let me try something..._ _ **Equip Title: Signal Student**_ ' __

 **NOTIFICATION: Title changed to 'Signal Student'**

' _Well,'_ I thought to myself, ' _I am in for one hell of a time.'_

 **()-()-()**

 **/Note de le Author/ So, who wants me to continue with this? I'm gonna, regardless of whether you want to or not, just wondering.**

 **NOTE! There will be no levels in the traditional sense, but there are stats (Such as DEX, STR, CHA), Barum just didn't bring them up. Also, I know, It seems broken-up here, but it's going to become consistent starting next chapter. I just needed introductions & prologue over with.**

 **Give me criticism, so long as it's constructive. Flames are no fun.**

 **Introduced OCs this chapter:**

 **Barum Thorne: OC based loosely off myself. In his previous life, he killed himself because he couldn't stand to bear heart cancer anymore. 31 years of experiences. Uses Katana. Name based off of element barium; causes green fireworks.**

 **Carbon Thorne: OC based loosely off my younger brother. Barum's biological fraternal twin. Always hyper. Uses Zweihander that is far too large for him, but makes it work. Name is literally element carbon.**

 **Gravelien Thorne: Matriarch of Thorne family. Loving, but strict mother. Name based off of construction material gravel.**

 **Steele Thorne: Patriarch of Thorne family. Fun, joke loving father. Role model to Barum and Carbon. Name based off of construction material steel.**

 **And as always...**

 _ **Exeunt**_


	2. Stats for Days

**Newtonian: The mana is for physically achievable combos and with different status effects that are completed by an auto-combat system. He can use combos and moves without using MP, but forgoes and stat changes. AP will be more for enhancement of the body, as well as dust based attacks.**

 **MysticSpider: I was planning on having him go through different 'Classes', but I find the assassin style lacks the brute force required to effectively kill Grimm. If I can find a way, though, I will fit it into his style.**

 **Bro: Thanks, bud! And on the detail note, I agree, after reading the first chapter again, I noticed a lack of detail.**

 **()-()-()**

"The result of Gray Hawke versus Opal Pyre resulted in Gray claiming victory. Neither student will advance." The headmaster announced over a speaker. The two students that were named started yelling out complaints, but were largely ignored. He's been announcing the result of fights for the previous fifteen minutes... There were a lot of applicants.

The lot of us student hopefuls were seated in a large auditorium in Signal. Sitting in the back was everyone's parents. A few of them raged when their kid wasn't accepted, but were quickly silenced by a shaggy-looking man wielding an ungodly large sword.

To my left was my opponent, Yang. While yes, she was cute, I was mentally in my thirties. And while a few of the teachers were hot, I'm physically fourteen. Help.

To my left was my twin, Carbon. While we were twins, we couldn't be any different. My thirty-odd years of experiences gave me maturity, while Carbon seemed to have the maturity level of a ten year-old given cocaine. Our styles were also vastly different; I prefered to focus as much on speed as possible without becoming too weak, while Carbon wielded a zweihander, one of the largest viable swords ever created. And then there's our clothing...

I have a robe that covered my entire torso, most of my right arm, and none of my left. And then there's Carbon with his jet-black trench coat. His hair and eyes are also different than mine, as I have vibrant green eyes and short, shaggy brown hair, while Carbon possesses a slick black ponytail, and somewhat vacant red eyes. While I'm five and a half feet tall, Carbon stands at a short (for his weapon) five and a quarter.

Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to the headmaster.

"Carbon Thorne versus Cloud Haze resulted in Carbon's victory. Carbon Thorne, you advance to our school," The headmaster (I really need to learn his name) announced. I quickly turned to my brother and gave him a quick pat on the back. I had no doubt he would advance; he can swing a sword very well.

"And last but not least, Yang Xiao Long versus Barum Thorne resulted in Yang's victory. Both students will be advancing," The headmaster paused, before leaning into the microphone, equipped with a friendly smile. "Congratulations students, congratulations, now, I would like to introduce myself personally. My name is Sigma Garlad, headmaster of Signal! Your school year will start next month, on the first of September. Don't be late, that is all."

A notification window popped up. I focused on opening it, pausing the outside world. On it read:

 **Observe skill unlocked!**

' _Okay then, how about_ _ **View Observe skill**_ '

 **Observe skill: Passive/Active, Maxed**

 **Learn the names of people before you meet them**

Well, that's handy. I closed what I'm going to call my pause screen, and looked around the room. I noticed other than just names, several people had titles. I looked to Yang briefly, and looked at her name/title, and then to my brother.

 **Yang Xiao Long, Brawling Berserker**

 **Carbon Throne, Surprising Warrior**

 **WIS increased by 1!**

Okay, now it's saying I have a wisdom level. I enabled the pause feature, and looked around the HUD provided. I found nothing, so I tried something that worked the last two times. ' _ **Open Stats.'**_ I commanded.

 **STR: 12**

 **DEX: 19**

 **CON: 8**

 **INT: 20**

 **WIS: 11**

 **CHA: 7**

 **LCK: 2**

So it's similar to D&D, with the inclusion of luck. And I was luck screwed, lovely. As so far my Gamer ability has provided me with no levels, I assumed it was purely a skill and experience based system, and I'd have to up my stats through hard work. And it seems that my wisdom point was granted by testing out a new skill.

()-()-()

"Boys, I know you'll do fine, but please be safe," My mom said to Carbon and I. We were just finished packing all of our things for the trip to Patch. My family lived in central Vale, with a view of the illustrious Beacon Academy, so me and my hyper twin had to stay in the dorms provided.

Carbon stood and gave a mock salute, and the cheesiest smile possible. "Worry not, sergeant mom! I pledge to do my duty, and-Ow!"

I slapped him upside the head. "Don't worry mom, I'll keep him out of trouble," I said, while grabbing the collar of his trench coat, and escaped our mother.

When we got outside, our dad was waiting for us. I used my Observe skill on him.

 **Steele Thorne, Vale General**

I guess that was to be expected.

My dad honked the horn of his truck. It was resembled a military vehicle, but was unmodded for civilian use. "Come on boys, we're running late! Your bullhead leaves in half an hour!"

I shoved my stuff into the trunk, and bolted into the front seat before Carbon could even get there.

On the way to the bullhead pickup, I paused and viewed my information. Over the course of the month, several skills have leveled, and two had been added, the Quick Step skill, and the SMG skill, as I've been practicing with my dad's SMG.

' _ **Open skills, open stats, equip title Samurai'**_ I mentally commanded

. **Name: Barum Thorne**

 **Title: Samurai  
+30% SPD, -15% Physical RES, +20% END**

 **HP: 154/140 (10% Boost from 'Well Rested'! For 5 hrs)  
MP: 77/70 (10% Boost from 'Home cooked Meal'! For 6 hrs)  
AP:0/0 (Aura Locked)**

 **Gamer's Mind: Passive, Maxed  
You have the mindset of a gamer, even in reality! +100% Mental Affliction RES. **

**Gamer's Body: Passive, Maxed  
You have the body of an RPG character! +HP(Health Points) Bar, +MP(Mana Points) Bar, +AP(Aura Points) Bar, Sleep optional, Food/Drink optional**

 **Gamer's Reality: Passive, Maxed  
Pick up loot, accept quests, communicate with Kami, and progress in factions!**

 **Sword: Passive, LV 14  
+14% DMG with SWORD weapons. (+1% DMG per LV)**

 **SMG: Passive, LV 5  
+4% DMG with SMG weapons, +7.5 accuracy with SMG weapons (+0.8% DMG per LV, +1.5 accuracy per LV)**

 **Physical Endurance: Passive, LV 11  
+5.5% RES Physical DMG (+0.5% RES per level)**

 **Samurai: Passive, LV 4  
+6% SPD When equipped with a KATANA weapon, +4% DMG with KATANA weapons (+1.5 SPD per LV, +1% DMG per LV)**

 **Observe: Passive/Active, Maxed  
Learn the names of people before you meet them**

 **Quick Step: Activation, LV 2  
Dodge a blow by side-stepping either left or right with incredible speed.  
Max steps: 2**

 **Distance: 3 ft**

 **Cost: 2 MP**

 **Up-to-Crescent: Aggressive, LV 4  
Start with a vertical strike, then combo into circling horizontal strikes!  
Max combo: 7 hits  
+10% DMG per strike (+2.5% DMG per LV)  
Cost: 7 MP per strike**

 **Title: Gamer  
Grants Nothing**

 **Title: Samurai  
+30% SPD, -15% Physical RES, +20% END**

 **Title: Signal Student  
+25% Academic Learning SPD, +15% Dust/Aura RES**

 **STR: 13  
DEX: 19  
CON: 8  
INT: 20  
WIS: 13  
CHA: 7  
LCK: 3**

I was doing alright for myself, and I was slowly getting my luck-screwed trait fixed by flipping coins against Carbon. I was pretty sure he had about fifty luck.

I unpaused myself, and enjoyed the ride to the pickup. On the way, our dad kept teasing us, to Carbon about zweihanders being "overcompensation", and to me about having to see the girl that beat me in my classes. In between teasing, there was some advice, but mostly the typical dad-jokes. I'm fairly sure the groans could have been heard by pedestrians.

Once we got to the pickup, our dad waved us off as we rushed to the bullhead. We were five minutes late, but the pilot was in the washroom. I call that the kind of deus ex machina you find in games... Oh, right. I guess this Gamer's Reality skill makes life really life a videogame.

()-()-()

I have to question things in my new life. Such as, how has there been no space exploration with current technology? Why is the moon shattered? And are these people qualified to run a combat school filled with hormonal teenagers?

My brother and I shared a dorm. That alone was fine. But there was a slight issue when we walked into the dorm room.

"Alright, room 125. Looks like this is us, Carbon," I said, setting one of my suitcases down in order to open the door.

Apparently, I wasn't fast enough, as Carbon just bodychecked it open. "C'mon, Barum, you're way too slow. You sure that you're faster than me?" Carbon asked, and immediately tossed his stuff onto a nearby couch, and bolted to the bathroom.

The main room was simple looking, but efficient. On the left side of the room, there was a two seater couch, a recliner, and an old bubble TV for the livingroom section. On the opposite side was a small kitchenette, and a dining room table. I had the suspicion that this was a nicer room than what Beacon had for dorms...

I had literally two seconds to put my stuff down before I heard a shriek, a loud crack, and Carbon flying straight out of the bathroom, impacting his head against a wall. Half a second after that, I heard a somewhat familiar voice shout "GET OUT OF HERE YOU PERV!"

Yeah, we shared a dorm with a girl. I picked up Carbon from his spot from the ground as he was nursing the fairly violent hit.

I sat him down on the couch he tossed his stuff on, and the second he got settled, a mass of blonde hair exited the bathroom. Oh.

My HUD was flashing red, and **DANGER** notifications were blaring in my ears.

 **Quest "Calm down roommate" Auto-enforced!  
Succession: 2 CHA points, 2 relevant skills  
Failure: Knock-Out, Reduced relationship with Carbon Thorne, Reduced relationship with [UNKNOWN NAME]**

It was Yang we shared a room dorm with. This quest wasn't going to be easy. And she was literally on fire. Like, red blaze all around her body. So her Aura was unlocked, and she wants to kill us, both of us with locked Aura.

"WeShareARoomWithYouDon'tKillUs!" Carbon yelled as he scrambled to his feet, and stood behind me, using me as a meat shield.

And I had the Samurai title on. I needed to calm her down fast.

"Yang, I know this looks bad and all, but we do actually share a room with you," I said quickly, and fumbled around my pockets for the paperwork. "Here, I even have proof. It says room 125 right there." She could smell fear, I just knew it.

 **Quest "Calm down roommate" Completed!**

 **CHA increased by 2!  
Mediator skill unlocked!  
Calm skill unlocked!**

Or maybe it was going to be the easiest thing I've done in several years. Allowing Yang to glare at my brother now that I've retired from meat shield services, I picked my stuff up off the couch and headed towards one of the two vacant bedrooms.

The room itself was very bare. All it had was a twin-sized bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. Shoving my stuff onto my bed, I sat down and opened up my new skills.

' _ **Open skills Mediator and Calm.'**_

 **Mediator: Passive, LV 1  
Be the voice of reason! +2% chance to calm a hostile person (+2% per LV, Cannot affect enemy faction members)**

 **Calm: Passive, LV 0 (Aura Locked)  
You posses a calming Aura. +0% calm to all persons in 5 meters (+.5% per LV)**

"What do you mean LOCKED!?" I yelled, and quickly covered my mouth. I didn't want anyone to know of my semblance... Wait.

How was I even using my semblance if my Aura's locked?

Before I could find an answer, I heard a knock on my door. "You good Barum?" Carbon asked from the other side of the door. Ahh crap, he heard me.

 **Quest "Unlock Aura" Auto-enforced!  
Completion: Aura is unlocked, Aura stat boosts, Unlock 1 AP using skill, 3 free Stat Points  
Failure: Not possible**

And my system decided to give me a free quest.

Rubbing my face, I got up and opened the door, only to be greeted by Carbon... And Yang scratching his ears, largely ignoring myself.

"First thing, yes, I'm good, just remembered we have to unlock our Aura," I replied, and proceeded to get to the troubling image in front of my eyes. "And secondly, did I miss something?"

Carbon quickly coughed. "A story for another time..."

Yang proceeded to flick him with her free hand. "Your brother thought it was a good idea to flirt with me, so I threatened to castrate him if he doesn't obey me," She said with a wink towards Carbon.

Wow, fuck. I'm going to die in this dorm.

()-()-()

We had approximately a week before classes started, and I was grinding training dummies, and whatever text book I could find in order to raise my stats before unlocking my Aura. I could always have someone else do it, yes, but if someone unlocks their Aura themselves, they tend to start out with more. Or so I've read.

The stat growths I've gained were two for strength from the training dummies, three dexterity for exploiting my Quick Step skill while sparing Yang, one for reading through a lot of the books in the library, one for constitution for training against Carbon's unholy zweihander style while I had no weapon, and one unexplainable luck growth. In addition to the stat growths, I also leveled a few of my skills.

Now that I had only today to unlock my Aura before a teacher does it for me, and I don't want to take the easy way out. I had only one way of learning to unlock my Aura on my own, and that involved something I didn't try yet. Contacting Kami.

So, resting on the dorm's couch while Carbon was making lunch under Yang's threat of castration, I opened my pause menu.

' _ **Enable pause. Contact Kami.'**_

" **Barum, you sure took your sweet time calling! Your semblance has been active for over a month, what kept you?"** Kami's barely recognizable voice rang inside my head.

" _A couple things, actually. Such as how does my semblance work without the need for Aura?"_ I replied, before adding " _I also need to learn how to unlock my Aura on my own. Any help?"_

" **Well, your semblance is a reality augmenting ability, meaning it doesn't affect you, persae, and doesn't feed off of your Aura. It more relies on ambient energy in the world of any kind. On the count of Aura, however, I don't know,"** Kami replied.

Lovely, I start off with a decreased AP bar.

" _Well, thanks for the explanation. I guess I'll talk to you later,"_ I replied, and closed the pause menu. And then groaned.

' _ **Deactivate pause.'**_

"Carbon, do you know when we get our Auras unlocked?" I asked my brother. I got my answer, however, from Yang. From her room.

"WHAT DO YA' MEAN YOUR AURA'S LOCKED!?" Yang yelled. I heard her door slam into the wall, signaling that her door was opened by violent means. She then bolted down the hall, and stopped immediately in front of me. "You were training against me, someone with an unlocked Aura, with a locked Aura?"

Oh, lovely. I have to sit through this. "Well, yeah. My semblance doesn't need my Aura to be unlocked for me to use it, so I thought I had a fighting chance," I replied, and immediately regretted mentioning my semblance, as a non-Aura using semblance was rare. Carbon, from his cooking station (Still under threat of castration, mind you), gave me a confused look.

"Exactly what semblance doesn't need Aura?" Carbon asked curiously, and turned in my direction. "I only ask because dad's non-contact semblance drains him dry if he over-uses it."

Before I could come up with an answer, Yang butted in. "And my semblance brings me to the maximum strength I can have, and then adds whatever damage I've taken. I guess you could say it _burns_ through my Aura."

And there's the pun.

I need time to think of a lie. ' _ **Enable pause.'**_

Okay, so what would be believable for a semblance? The 'Gamer' was an unprecedented ability, as there was no semblance I could find that was even similar in the school's textbooks. The closest one, however, may just serve my purposes...

' _ **Deactivate pause.'**_

"Well, it's a skill semblance, meaning I can learn skills, such as the quick step I used against you while we sparred. I can use these skills without moving my body on my own, meaning my semblance briefly takes control of my body to perform the action," I replied. Hopefully they buy it...

Yang shrugged and sat down next to me. "Works for me."

 ***BEEP BEEP BEEP***

That was the fire alarm. Carbon burned lunch.

()-()-()

"Day one of class, ya runts," A middle aged teacher said from the front of a large class. It was the same person who silenced angry parents after the entrance exams with a sword that dwarfed what Carbon could ever hope to wield. He had a newspaper over his face and was leaning back in his chair. "Get in your seats, shut up, let me sleep off this hangover."

My doubts of whether or not these people were suitable to run a school are now certain beliefs I hold religiously.

"Sir, some of us still need our Auras unlocked," I said as I sat down. I took a seat on the far left side in the second front row. Beside me was Carbon, and in front of me was Yang.

The teacher groaned, shoved the newspaper off his face, and stood up. "Fine, it looks like I'll have to earn my paycheck. My name's Qrow Branwen, if you don't have your Aura unlocked, get to the front. And if you call me 'Mr. Branwen', I'll kick your teeth in."

Carbon, myself, and about five other students lined up in front of Qrow, myself being in front.

Qrow abruptly grabbed my shoulders and stared intently at me.

"Buy him a drink first uncle Qrow!" Yang yelled. It made too much sense that they were related, for some reason.

"Kid, I'm unlocking your Aura, so it would be in your best interest to prepare yourself for this power up," Qrow said. I could only nod. " _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."_

With a pulse of his own Aura, mine was unlocked, and this power up was something to not joke about. Through my entire body, I could feel my stats receive a massive multiplier. I had to guess is was about a third per stat.

 **Quest 'Unlock Aura' Complete!  
Beyond All Limits skill added!  
+3 stat points added!**

I returned to my seat with a spring in my step... Literally. I was not accustomed to this massive growth, and my steps were propelling me farther than they used to.

As I sat down, I opened my menu.

' _ **Enable pause, open Beyond All Limits skill, open Calm skill, open Stats.'**_

 **Beyond All Limits: Aura, LV 1  
Go beyond the limits of your mortal body!  
+10% to stats, HP, MP (With base of 5%, +5% per level)  
Cost: 7 AP per second, and 10 AP to activate**

 **Calm: Passive, LV 1  
You posses a calming Aura. +0.5% calm to all persons in 5 meters (+.5% per LV)**

 **STR: 15 +30%  
DEX: 22 +30%  
CON: 9 +30%  
INT: 21 +30%  
WIS: 13 +30%  
CHA: 9 +30%  
LCK: 4 +30%  
FREE POINTS: 3**

My stat boosts were actually broken, or so I thought. A thirty percent boost to each is pretty amazing, no matter what game you play. I looked over my stats. For my fighting style, some more **CON** would do me great, as it's largely blade to blade. I also didn't want to be luck screwed, but so far I didn't need luck...

 **WIS +1 for thinking about the pros and cons!**

I'm not going to complain about a free point.

' _ **Add 1 to CHA, Add 2 to CON. Close all, deactivate pause.'**_

Alright, my stats were set, so as I waited for Qrow to be done with the other students, I grabbed my notebook from my bag... Why can't my system have an inventory? Bags are annoying.

 **Inventory skill unlocked!**

Well, fuck you too, game. I still had a few minutes to kill before Qrow was done with the students. One of the students activated his semblance immediately, causing him to get stuck to the ground. Gravity semblance, maybe?

' _ **Open Inventory skill.'**_

 **Inventory: Passive, Maxed  
Carry around items in a hammerspace!  
Max weight: Kg = STR x 1.5 (Aura bonus not counted)**

Well, I didn't need it right now. And even if I stuffed my bag into it, Carbon and Yang would question where it was.

' _ **Close menu.'**_

I could tell already that this was going to be a fun year.

 **CHA +1 for internalizing your rage and not being a weirdo!**

Oh fuck off.

 **()-()-()**

Well, it looks like chapter two is complete! Nothing to say really, except for have a good March break!

And as always...

 _ **Exeunt**_


	3. Best in Class

**MysticSpider: His CHA is for random people, as well as whatever multipliers that affect CHA-based skills, such as the ones you listed (Also improves fashion choices). As for the WIS stat, all his stats are fairly low, so stat-boosts are easier to get. The WIS improves his quality of reasoning and foresight (The pros and cons are under that) while INT is his quality of thinking (The strategizing being part of that)**

 **Fennec9: Do I get internet points? Yayz!**

()-()-()

It's been a month since Signal started, and Qrow proved to be a better teacher than I initially believed. While that isn't saying much, he actually taught us the different species of Grimm that are found in the Vale kingdom, how different calibers of bullets are effective on different Grimm, and even introductory lessons on how to make our own Mech-Shift weapons. These lessons on Mech-Shift technology gained me the Mech-Shift Maker and Mech-Shift Maintenance skills.

Now, it was time to forge our own Grimm killing weaponry.

"Alright, listen up children, in behind me are forging stations. Grab your metal, draw out your designs, and get to it," Qrow said, standing in the centre of a large, dark room. The entire room was sweltering due to the heat of the forges. To the left of the room were storage bins of materials, including dust-metal, Aura-wire, and the required tools to make weaponry. On the right side of the room were heavy duty presses, used for drawing out metal, along with grinders, and more stationary equipment.

I immediately went toward the metals they supplied. In my previous life, I had studied the trade of blacksmithing, but the existence of dust-metal alloys took what little knowledge I had retained over fourteen years of no stimulation, and tossed it out the proverbial window.

I knew I needed a hard metal as a base for my weapon, and a soft weapon to make the weapon not so brittle. I also needed plenty of Aura wire, a few gears for the moving components as it was also going to be a gun, and several hammers. I brought the materials to my station, and started making the necessary measurements. My weapon was going to be a katana that folded into an SMG, and for the sword to expand into a gun of appropriate size, the length of a katana may not cut it...

 **Quests 'Forge Your Own Path' and 'Forge On Ahead' unlocked!**  
 **Forge Your Own Path**  
 **Acceptance: Disables quest 'Forge On Ahead'**  
 **Task: Forge a katana Mech-Tech weapon**  
 **Completion: 1 Aura (dust) skill, 250 lien**  
 **Failure: Nothing**  
 **Forge On Ahead**  
 **Task: Forge a non-katana Mech-Tech weapon**  
 **Completion: 1 Aura (melee) skill 250 lien**  
 **Failure: Nothing**

I needed to know the specs of the katana weapon class before advancing. Whether or not the katana classification contained all single-edged Japanese swords.

 _ **'Inspect weapon type "Katana".'**_

 **Katana: Not limited to katana alone, includes all two-handed single edged weapons viable to be used by a Samurai. Blade length must not exceed 40 inches.**

Okay, so I would be able to make this work. I accepted the 'Forge Your Own Path' quest and got to work. The metals I selected were a green earth-dust alloy with the title of GDE 2nd H, and a brown neutral-dust alloy titled BDN 20th H.

 **Inspect skill unlocked!**  
 **Inspect skill increased to LV 5!**

 _ **'Open skill Inspect.'**_

 **Inspect: Passive, LV 5**  
 **+15% knowledge of effects of different materials (+3% knowledge per LV, added to learned/studied knowledge)**

 _ **'Close menu.'**_

Okay, that skill is useful. I looked at the two metals I had, and after focusing, small windows opened up above them.

 **GDE 2nd H**  
 **Metal effect:**  
 **Metal does not chip***  
 **+Slashing DMG**  
 **+Blunt DMG**  
 **-Piercing DMG**  
 ***Effective on all Dust Alloys**  
 **Heavyweight**  
 **2nd hardest Dust Alloy**

 **BDN 20th H**  
 **Metal effect:**  
 **Metal does not chip***  
 ***Effective on all Dust Alloys**  
 **Lightweight**  
 **20th hardest Dust Alloy**

Wow, these metals were perfect. The weapons didn't need to be done until the end of the month, giving me, and other students, time to fix mistakes and make edits.

I was the fifth last one to complete their weapon, but finally, after three weeks of slaving over a hot forge for four hours a day, my weapon was complete. The base form was an o katana totaling thirty six inches for the blade plus ten for the handle, resulting in forty six inches of Grimm slaying art. The blade itself had a comfortable curve to it, and was segmented into two equal pieces that detach from each other. This occurred when the sword shifted into its gun form, which was a needle-firing SMG. The blade would first fold backward, the tip would be magnetized to a piece of the handle's inner workings, and held as the handle took form. The handle opens up, folding outwards to match the shape of an MP7, with the exception of a small off-hand grip. It was largely hollow, except for the magazine that held one hundred and fifty small needle rounds. The blade halves then lined up, edge facing down, parallel with the barrel, and slide back far enough that there was only a foot of blade outwards, allowing for quick melee attacks.

I took my near finished weapon to an etching station near the grinders. I made sure my safety equipment was secure, grabbed an engraving pen, and engraved my weapon's name on the bottom of the handle. The name was Bauspe, the combination of the German words for tree and wasp. In this world, the language was still named German, but it was a national language of Atlas. It apparently originated in an old city by the name of Germay.

Back in my old life, I studied languages while in the hospital, and one of the languages that I became fluent in was German. However, outside of history lessons, I never got to flex my knowledge of it, so it would be safe to assume that my ability to speak it has gone down the drain

I removed my safety gear, shoved my weapon into its sheath, bid the forge master farwell, and bolted to my classroom, where Qrow and my classmates were likely doing nothing.

Once I reached the classroom, I opened the door to the usual image of Qrow slumped over his desk.

"Qrow, I'm done my weapon," I announced loud enough to get his attention. He mumbled something, waved me off, and removed his attention from me.

Sighing at what I assume is Qrow's hangover, I head to my seat.

 _ **'Complete quest "Forge Your Own Path".'**_

 **Quest 'Forge Your Own Path complete!**  
 **250 lien has been added to your savings!**  
 **Earth Dust Weaving skill has been unlocked!**

 _ **'Open skill Earth Dust Weaving.'**_

 **Earth Dust Weaving: Aura, LV 1**  
 **Weave earth elemented dust into your clothing, and/or use it!**  
 **15 cm^2 of dust-wear equipable, +32% proficiency with earth elemented dust (With base of 10 cm^2, +5 cm^2 per LV, With base of 10% proficiency, +1% per LV, +1% per INT)**  
 **Cost: 4 AP per second per Kg of earth manipulated (Reduced by .2 AP per 5 cm^2 of dust-wear to minimum of 1/2 base cost)**

Wow, the Aura skills are outright broken. With this skill, I could just throw rocks at people, so long as I had charged dust-wear, or any amount of earth dust.

I closed my menu and looked to where Carbon's spot was. Of the remaining four students to finish forging, Carbon had made the least amount of process. I asked him what the specs of the weapon were, but he would always shush me.

Yang, being one of the first students to complete their work, has been stir-crazy. Carbon and I were subject to her pent-up need to punch things and show off her weapon Ember Celica, so when I sat down behind her with my completed weapon, it was obvious I wasn't getting any rest.

"So, Barum, what's your weapon do?" Yang asked, and extended Ember Celica from their bracelet form. "Can't be better than these though."

I removed Bauspe from its sheath, revealing the blade. From the cutting edge to an inch into the blade consisted of the hard green metal, and the backing was the softer brown metal. The handle was entirely brown, spare the green diamonds of metal on each side.

I smirked at Yang, and handed her the weapon. "It's made of a hard earth dust alloy, and a soft neutral brown dust alloy. The blade totals thirty six inches and the handle is ten inches, bringing the whole thing to forty six inches. The sword itself is an o katana, and, if you pulse aura into it twice, it takes an SMG form," I explained, allowing Yang to view the weapon. "The name of my masterpiece is Bauspe, the German words for tree and wasp merged into one."

 **Language skill unlocked!**  
 **Language skill increased to LV 20!**  
 **German Language skill unlocked!**  
 **German Language skill increased to 65!**

Oh god those are big numbers.

 _ **'Open skills Language and German Language.'**_

 **Language, Passive, LV 20**  
 **Learn languages at +41% normal speed (+1% per LV, +INT w/out Aura boost)**

 **German Language, Passive, LV 65**  
 **65% fluent in German language (+1% per LV)**

 ** _'Close all.'_**

Well, it turns out I was now only sixty five percent fluent in a language I mastered in my past life. That sucks.

I turned my attention back to Yang, who was still inspecting my weapon. "Yang, just give the thing to me."

I heard the mechanical whir of my blade transforming, and all Yang could do was grin sheepishly at me.

()-()-()

Everyone was finally done their weapon. Carbon was the last one finished, and the zweihander he created was massive. It was five and a half feet, making it as tall as me, and taller than Carbon. The blade was a consistent five inches from edge to edge. In between the edges were two .50 caliber rifle barrels that extended all the way to where the tip would have been. The handle appeared to spiral tightly, and the pommel had two Aura wire switches that I assume would fire each of the rifles. Carbon had a bracer placed on his left forearm that would clip the massive blade into place, allowing accurate shots. The gun itself fired Implosive Dust Rounds that expanded in the barrel, and imploded on contact. The fact that the rounds expanded in the barrel allowed Carbon to carry up to fifteen rounds per barrel. At the base of both edges of the blade was the weapon's name, Hydra.

Surprisingly, the Hydra was only about as heavy as something that would be a foot shorter. Still heavy, but it was more merciful on Carbon.

However, now that all of the weapons were complete, Qrow has made it mandatory for everyone to spar at least once with their weapon. As it so happens, the first combatants were Carbon and a student that has made her stance on the rights of faunus very obvious.

"Pyrite Ager and Carbon Thorne, you are the first two to flail around," Qrow said while rubbing his forehead, likely nursing a hangover. "Tournament rules, no limb removal, you know the drill. Fight."

There was a half minute countdown, giving me time to inspect Pyrite. She was short, standing at only five feet, and wielded a halberd appropriate to her small stature. The halberd folded down into a sniper rifle, while the bottom of the halberd form shot the rounds.

To be entirely honest, her weapon was solid. I didn't want to admit that, but as it turns out, even racists can be good at a few things.

Carbon unhooked Hydra from his back, and rested the tip of the blade on the ground behind him, taking a crouched stance.

When the countdown reached zero, Carbon stayed where he was while Pyrite charged him.

"Come on pup, can't you fight back?" Pyrite taunted. She swung her halberd around, forcing Carbon to defend. With each hit, however, Pyrite's attacks would swerve, as Carbon's defensive stance was solid, as well as the fact that Hydra was so wide he could just shield himself behind his blade.

"You're getting sloppy so quickly," Carbon taunted, and grabbed the shaft of Pyrite's halberd as the weapon came down on top of him. "You came too close to me, and now I have a free shot."

Oh and did Carbon ever take that shot. He hefted Hydra up to his shoulder, still holding Pyrite's halberd, and whipped the flat side of the blade into Pyrite's face, knocking her to the ground. He the attached Hydra to his bracer, and unloaded four shots into Pyrite's torso.

Pyrite's Aura was just above the red zone, while Carbon only had a sliver down due to his extended defensive stance.

"You forget that my weapon is taller than me, yet you don't take advantage of the fact that it makes me slower." It was odd seeing Carbon being serious. Only in fights did that happen, and was it ever a change from his hyper, 'It doesn't matter' usual self.

Carbon allowed Pyrite to stand, and slashed his blade into the ground at a seventy degree angle... And stood on it.

"This is ridiculous, how are you beating me? You're just a house pet!" Pyrite yelled, not entirely noticing the fact that Carbon was standing on his sword. Whatever his semblance is, he seems to have complete control over it.

Pyrite charged Carbon with a horizontal slash aimed at his feet. Carbon easily jumped over the attack, over Pyrite, and grabbed her left forearm.

"Too bad you don't know your semblance. This may have been fun." Carbon started to swing Pyrite around, and after a few rotations, she stopped, as if the air turned into bricks. Carbon continued to drag her through the air until her Aura dropped to red, at which point he let go, dropping Pyrite.

Qrow, normally disinterested in anything we did, was watching intently the whole fight since Carbon started talking.

"Winner by depletion, Carbon Thorne," Qrow announced. He started looking down, likely marking performance, when Pyrite started a tantrum.

"Mr. Branwen, he made me stop in mid air! That's just not possible! The filthy mutt had to have chea-" She started, but was quickly interrupted by Carbon.

"You ignorant, childish, racist brat!" Carbon yelled. He had Hydra clipped to his back, but looked threatening nonetheless. "My semblance can change the friction of anything I touch, given it's less than twice my weight. I simply increased your friction to the air to such an intensity that movement was impossible."

Qrow nodded, then turned to Pyrite. "Carbon's semblance allows him to do ridiculous things. Yang's semblance allows her to take whatever damage she takes, add it to her own, and throw it right back at you. Know what you're talking about in the future," Qrow said, and paused for a second. "And for your comments pertaining to Carbon's heritage, you and I are going to the headmaster's office later today, after classes. And if you didn't know, his wife is a faunus."

I witnessed one of the most priceless expressions ever plastered on a human face.

()-()-()

About three fights after Carbon's fight, it was finally my turn to battle. However, besides Carbon's fight, the opposing person was chosen by the first combatant.

"Barum Thorne, pick your opponent," Qrow droned. Only Carbon's fight was worthy of any attention so far.

 **Quests 'Close Quarters', 'A Few Feet', and 'Too Far' unlocked!**  
 **All**  
 **Bonus (Win by K.O.): +1 Free Point**  
 **Close Quarters**  
 **Acceptance: Disables 'A Few Feet' and 'Too Far'**  
 **Task: Fight a short-range foe and win!**  
 **Completion: +1 STR**  
 **Failure: Nothing**  
 **A Few Feet**  
 **Acceptance: Disables 'Close Quarters' and 'Too Far'**  
 **Task: Fight a mid-range foe and win!**  
 **Completion: +1 CON**  
 **Failure: Nothing**  
 **Too Far**  
 **Task: Fight a long-range foe and win!**  
 **Completion: +1 DEX**  
 **Failure: Nothing**

Three quests, each pertaining to a different style of opponent. As of right now, I need more CON, so that left me with the obvious choice.

 _ **'Accept quest "A Few Feet".'**_

"Qrow, I'll fight Carbon, if that's alright," I answered. Carbon's massive sword counted as a mid-range weapon with long-range capabilities. I really wanted to test myself against my brother.

Qrow shrugged. "Why not? I like seeing brothers beat each other up."

I headed down to the front, and unsheathed Bauspe. Carbon made it to the opposite side of the room, and unclipped Hydra.

"I have to say Barum, this is going to be incredibly fun!" Carbon said as the timer reached zero.

I didn't know anything about his semblance, as I only learned of it a few minutes ago, but I knew it was dangerous. How he was able to hide it from me, I don't know, but it appeared he managed.

Carbon took one powerful step towards me, and slid using his semblance. While sliding, Carbon was able to maintain his powerful defensive stance, forcing me to either attack a moving wall, or dodge.

I, however, have tricks of my sleeve. I activated Quick Step twice, and got behind him. I slashed at his back, and landed a solid hit. Not enough though, as Carbon barely budged. Carbon reached behind himself, stabbed Hydra into the ground, grabbed the handle, jumped, and kicked me, as he was rotation around his sword. I was sent sprawling about ten feet away. I glanced at my Aura, and the amount I lost in that one strike was astonishing.

 **Physical Endurance skill increased to LV 22!**

 **'Display HP, MP, and AP.'**

 **HP: 210/220 (+30% all DMG RES)**  
 **MP: 120/120 (-30% all skill cost)**  
 **AP: 183/225**

My Aura took the brunt of the damage, so all was well. With nearly two hundred AP left, I was nowhere near close to the fifty-point red mark. I looked at Carbon's to find something disturbing... My slash only dropped him about three percent.

I pulsed Aura into Bauspe, turning it into it's SMG form, and unloaded my needle rounds into Carbon's approaching form. After about thirty rounds, his Aura dropped by only five percent. It was obvious before that Carbon was a tank, but this is absolutely ridiculous. I could have faced off against someone else, but no, I had to do the sibling rivalry thing.

Carbon took a powerful step and slid toward me at speed, and shifted his grip on Hydra into an all out offensive stance. There was no way I could dodge, as I was standing on the edge of the ring. Quick-Step would launch me just outside of the ring's boundaries, and Up-to-Crescent would just be tossed aside by a single hit from Carbon's massive weapon... My Aura skills are all I had.

I managed to create a small amount of dust-wear the night before the fight. It was a small band around my left ankle that covered only ten centimeters squared. At this moment, as I kicked up a chunk of the concrete floor into Carbon's face, I thanked my foresight. Without that dust-wear, my strategy would become far too costly.

As Carbon stumbled back from the unexpected attack, I shot round after round of needles into Carbon, but they appeared to just slid off. Just how broken was his semblance? All my needles, and the additional chunks of concrete I slammed into his body slid off with minimal damage.

That combo, while it did halt him and somewhat push him back, only brought Carbon down ten percent, bringing his Aura to above eighty percent. I took a glance at my stats...

 **HP: 215/220 (+30% all DMG RES)**  
 **MP: 120/120 (-30% all skill cost)**  
 **AP: 152/225**

My fight was not going so well. The only way I was going to win was by ring-out, and Carbon could just increase the friction of his boots to stop himself... That's it! All I had to do was get him to misuse his semblance! He would go sliding right out of the ring.

I took a look at Carbon's seemingly endless amount of Aura. Before when he fought Pyrite, I didn't even glance to his Aura meter, and earlier in the fight, I could only see what percent he went down by, and those glances were rough estimates. Now that I look, however, there were sets of numbers below our gauges.

 _Barum Thorne: 152/225_  
 _Carbon Thorne: 317/395_

While it appeared my attacks did quite a lot of damage, he just had so much Aura that it barely mattered. Now I was certain I had to make him slide.

I took an offensive stance, Bauspe held out in front of me, challenging my brother to charge me. He took his heavy step, and slid toward me faster than the other slides. I was, however, fast enough to use Quick-Step in time, and got behind him, intent on knocking him over the line. When I slammed my sword into his back, however, he didn't stumble forward. It appeared his semblance activated faster than I thought it would.

Carbon started turning with a full-power horizontal slash that I knew I couldn't block, and wasn't sure I could take. My HUD flashed red, and displayed the DANGER warning that occurred when Carbon and I entered our dorm.

 _ **'Enable pause.'**_

Yeah, it seemed like a cheap trick, but I wanted that CON boost. What in my arsenal would allow me to dodge this? Carbon's Hydra had such a reach that my Quick-Step skill meant literally nothing, and my Up-to-Crescent combo would just be cancelled. The only way I was sure I could survive this if I were to use Beyond-All-Limits to tank the hit, and use what few precious seconds that gave me in order to manipulate the concrete under Carbon's high-friction feet out of the ring.

Could I be so cheeky?

 _ **'Deactivate pause.'**_

I enabled Beyond-All-Limits for the first time, and immediately a notification window popped up

 **Beyond-All-Limits skill increased to LV 2!**

The absolute RUSH this skill gives is ridiculous. With my instant level-up, I gained an additional five percent. I heard gasps as my Aura just tanked, but with the boosts, I didn't need to even take the hit. My DEX had an additional forty five percent boost with my Aura and my skill, allowing me to just bend backward, under Carbon's blade.

With Carbon's attack giving him trouble, as he overpowered it, caused a pause that to my now enhanced self lasted ages. I activated Earth Dust Weaving, and ripped out the concrete out from under Carbon, and it took a lot out of me. I tossed Carbon, still stunned, out of the ring.

I deactivated Beyond-All-Limits and looked at the board where our Aura was displayed.

 _Barum Thorne: 53/225 WINNER_  
 _Carbon Thorne: 298/395 LOSER_

I won, by literally less than a second.

"The winner by ring-out is Barum Thorne. Woohoo, and all that," Qrow said in a bored tone, but his face betrayed that. I guessed there was something about a win that was practically cheating that got people's attention.

 **Quest 'A Few Feet' complete!**  
 **Bonus objective: Win by K.O.: Failed**  
 **+1 CON**  
 **Hidden Objective: Strongest in Class: Fight against the strongest (close/mid/long range) student! Underdog skill added!**

 _ **'Open skill Underdog.'**_

 **Underdog: Aura, MAXED**  
 **You may be losing, but you can still win!**  
 **Effect 1: Gain 50 MP**  
 **Cost: 30 AP**  
 **OR**  
 **Effect 2: Gain 20 AP**  
 **Cost: 60 MP**

Another broken skill. However, never nerf, no patch.

Qrow started talking again. "Now if Barum will stop standing around and go back to his seat," Oh, right, I forgot to enable pause while reading my skill. "We will pause the battles for now to view the data from the four matches, mostly the most current one, as it was the most complex."

I returned to my seat next to Carbon, and he shoved a sheet of paper on my desk that just read 'Salt'. He was grinning though, so at least I didn't have to deal with an angry zweihander-wielding tank that could just bust into my room. One death was plenty, thanks.

"The fight between Barum and Carbon lasted only a minute and a half, but that's too be expected from people at your skill level. I'll replay the footage and their Aura gauges, and you tell me the weird parts," Qrow said offhandedly, as he was attempting to figure out how a projector worked.

Once the footage was up, I was immediately thrown for a loop, as I wasn't used to seeing myself from an odd perspective. Once the replay was complete, however, nearly everyone's hand went up.

"You, answer for the class," Qrow pointed to the person on the other side of Carbon, a navy-haired girl by the name of Violet, if I'm remembering correctly from her fight. "What was odd about the fight?"

"Besides Carbon's unusually large Aura reserve, the fact that Barum could use dust-wear at the level all of us are at with any proficiency was odd," She answered.

"Maybe terrakinesis is his semblance," Qrow fired back with an amused grin.

"No, his semblance his something far different," Yang replied. "It doesn't need Aura, as he told me it was active before you unlocked his Aura, and the fact that his Aura dipped every time he kicked out a block of concrete."

Qrow's grin grew wider. "Exactly, making dust manipulation unlikely, but entirely possible. Can anyone tell me the truly weird part of this fight? And we are on the right track, it does relate to Barum's Aura."

After a few moments of no one answering, I raised my hand.

"Would you like to enlighten the rest of the class, Barum?" Qrow asked me, with what was his widest grin yet. He apparently liked seeing children stumble around a simple answer.

"My Aura dropped by nearly one hundred points in the final few seconds of the match when I forced Carbon into a ring-out," I answered. "The rest of my dust manipulation did not cost nearly that much per kilogram of concrete."

Qrow was back to sitting at his desk. "Precisely, and if that wasn't the regular cost for manipulation, as well as an Auraless semblance-"

"Qrow, while my semblance is, at its core, Auraless, it does have Aura consuming properties," I interrupted. I waited a second before spouting the same fake semblance I told Carbon and Yang, just with a little more flair. "My semblance is a 'skills' semblance. For example, after learning about Mech-Tech, I passively received additional knowledge of how Mech-Tech devices worked." That was believable. "After sparring with Yang for practice these past few days before these fights, I learned a 'skill' that consumed massive amounts of Aura for what I'm guessing is a fifteen percent boost to my strength, speed, and other combat abilities." I hope this lie went through. I had thirty-odd years of experience in lies, so...

Qrow lost all expression, and merely stated "That is complex... And a little broken."

 **+1 CHA for successfully telling your fattest lie of the year!**  
 **Acting skill unlocked!**  
 **Acting skill increased to LV 3!**

()-()-()

Finally, a moment of freedom. My classmates have been hounding me all day about how my semblance worked without Aura. Apparently that was "Too rare to be possible", "Too broken, its cheating" and similar lines.

Now, however, I was alone in my room after a day of school. I flopped down on my bed and gave my stats a quick once-over before taking a nap.

 _ **'Open stats and skills.'**_

 **Name: Barum Thorne**

 **Title: Signal Student**  
 **+25% Academic Learning SPD, +15% Dust/Aura RES**

 **HP: 220/220 (+30% all DMG RES)**  
 **MP: 120/120 (-30% all skill cost)**  
 **AP: 225/225**

 **Gamer's Mind: Passive, Maxed**  
 **You have the mindset of a gamer, even in reality! +100% Mental Affliction RES.**

 **Gamer's Body: Passive, Maxed**  
 **You have the body of an RPG character! +HP(Health Points) Bar, +MP(Mana Points) Bar, +AP(Aura Points) Bar, Sleep optional, Food/Drink optional**

 **Gamer's Reality: Passive, Maxed**  
 **Pick up loot, accept quests, communicate with Kami, and progress in factions!**

 **Inventory: Passive, Maxed**  
 **Carry around items in a hammerspace!**  
 **Max weight: Kg = STR x 1.5 (Aura bonus not counted)**

 **Sword: Passive, LV 25**  
 **+25% DMG with SWORD weapons. (+1% DMG per LV)**

 **SMG: Passive, LV 5**  
 **+4% DMG with SMG weapons, +7.5 accuracy with SMG weapons (+0.8% DMG per LV, +1.5 accuracy per LV)**

 **Physical Endurance: Passive, LV 22**  
 **+11% RES Physical DMG (+0.5% RES per level)**

 **Samurai: Passive, LV 13**  
 **+19.5% SPD When equipped with a KATANA weapon, +13% DMG with KATANA weapons (+1.5 SPD per LV, +1% DMG per LV)**

 **Mech-Shift Maker: Passive, LV 6**  
 **+24% Quality to all forged Mech-Shift weaponry (+4% per LV)**

 **Mech-Shift Maintenance: Passive, LV 3**  
 **+6% better Mech-Shift weapon upkeep, +7.5% more efficient weapon modifiers (+2% per LV, +2.5% per LV)**

 **Inspect: Passive, LV 6**  
 **+18% knowledge of effects of different materials (+3% knowledge per LV, added to learned/studied knowledge)**

 **Observe: Passive/Active, Maxed**  
 **Learn the names of people before you meet them**

 **Quick Step: Activation, LV 12**  
 **Dodge a blow by side-stepping either left or right with incredible speed.**  
 **Max steps: 12**

 **Distance: 3-4 ft**

 **Cost: 3 MP**

 **Mediator: Passive, LV 2**  
 **Be the voice of reason! +4% chance to calm a hostile person (+2% per LV, Cannot affect enemy faction members)**

 **Calm: Passive, LV 2**  
 **You posses a calming Aura. +1% calm to all persons in 5 meters (+.5% per LV)**

 **Language, Passive, LV 20**  
 **Learn languages at +41% normal speed (+1% per LV, +INT w/out Aura boost)**

 **German Language, Passive, LV 65**  
 **65% fluent in German language (+1% per LV)**

 **Acting, Semi-Passive, LV 3**  
 **Act as someone you aren't, or lie, with +19% efficiency (+2% per LV, +1% per CHA)**

 **Up-to-Crescent: Aggressive, LV 10**  
 **Start with a vertical strike, then combo into circling horizontal strikes!**  
 **Max combo: 7 hits**  
 **+25% DMG per strike (+2.5% DMG per LV)**  
 **Cost: 12 MP per strike**

 **Beyond All Limits: Aura, LV 2**  
 **Go beyond the limits of your mortal body!**  
 **+15% to stats, HP, MP (With base of 5%, +5% per level)**  
 **Cost: 8 AP per second, and 10 AP to activate**

 **Earth Dust Weaving: Aura, LV 2**  
 **Weave earth elemented dust into your clothing, and/or use it!**  
 **15 cm^2 of dust-wear equipable, +33% proficiency with earth elemented dust (With base of 10 cm^2, +5 cm^2 per LV, With base of 10% proficiency, +1% per LV, +1% per INT)**

 **Underdog: Aura, MAXED**  
 **You may be losing, but you can still win!**  
 **Effect 1: Gain 50 MP**  
 **Cost: 30 AP**  
 **OR**  
 **Effect 2: Gain 20 AP**  
 **Cost: 60 MP**

 **Cost: 4 AP per second per Kg of earth manipulated (Reduced by .2 AP per 5 cm^2 of dust-wear to minimum of 1/2 base cost)**

 **Title: Gamer**  
 **Grants Nothing**

 **Title: Samurai**  
 **+30% SPD, -15% Physical RES, +20% END**

 **Title: Signal Student**  
 **+25% Academic Learning SPD, +15% Dust/Aura RES**

 **STR: 17 +30%**  
 **DEX: 23 +30%**  
 **CON: 12 +30%**  
 **INT: 21 +30%**  
 **WIS: 15 +30%**  
 **CHA: 13 +30%**  
 **LCK: 5 +30%**  
 **FREE POINTS: 0**

 **()-()-()**

 **So I gave the CHA stat a purpose, besides natural behavioural changes stated at the beginning. Also, March Break is over, so that sucks, but my birthday is soon, so I have that to look forward to.**

 **So I made Carbon a proper tank with a disgustingly OP semblance, introduced in that brutal smackdown.**

 **Carbon's weapon 'Hydra' will have its namesake hidden for a while.**

 **I was thinking of introducing a new OC into the story for the Signal Arc, possibly going beyond into future Arcs. If you have someone that you want in the story, PM me, don't fill the reviews with OCs.**

 **And as always...**

 **Exeunt**


End file.
